Inkjet — Is Now the Time to Incorporate it in Your Print Manufacturing Capability?
April 1, 2025
Time: 12:00 pm CST / 1:00 pm EST
FREE for PIAS Members

When was the last time you considered inkjet as a compliment to your operations? Has it been 20, 10, or 5 years? Never? Now might be the perfect time given the potential implications of tariffs to our industry for all things print… From paper, media, steel & aluminum, we will more than likely be impacted and there is only so much we can off-load to our customer base. Moreover, given that regardless of manufacturer, B2+ and CF inkjet solutions have come a long way over the last 25+ years- it just makes business sense to consider it!

Join us as Rich Freeley, Fujifilm Inkjet Manager for the Northeast, takes us through what are the benefits of inkjet from an operations perspective as well as the “sweet spot” applications to migrate from analog to digital inkjet. He will provide examples of potential impacts to manufacturing costs, BHR (budgeted hourly rate) and other cost considerations to your operation. It may not be as difficult as you think to incorporate inkjet into your print manufacturing capability!

Session is no-charge.

About the Presenter:

Rich Freeley brings a unique blend of technical, managerial, operational and sales experience to his current executive position at Fujifilm.

He began his career in Graphic Communication working in operations for a commercial printer in upstate New York while attending Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where he received a bachelor’s degree in Print Technology.  Upon graduating he continued to work in operations learning and developing more efficiency and effectiveness within the print manufacturing process (both offset & digital) for approximately 15+ years.

Given his expertise in digital print technology and in operational excellence within commercial print and packaging, Rich was recruited by Hewlett Packard (HP) to enter sales, responsible for selling their digital solutions portfolio including both Indigo sheet-fed and Continuous Feed within HP’s Industrial Division.

Rich then went on to work for Xerox Corporation as a Continuous Feed Specialist for a new-to-market & new-to-company toner-based product. This position provided Rich with a different perspective on both launching a product but also how to put effective “go-to-market” strategies as he was responsible for taking what corporate marketing & engineering developed to then “translating” it for the field that were experts in selling production toner cut-sheet. His support of the field was made evident by growing market share 200% within 24 months of the launch product.

Having a keen understanding that inkjet was a fast-growing market, Rich then went on to work for Canon as a business development manager and as sales specialist in inkjet continuous feed. After 5 years of working at Canon, Rich decided to take a break from selling print solutions, to turning his attention to selling finishing solutions.

Working for MBO, marked the first time in Rich’s sales career where he was print-technology agnostic. He managed a team of both technical and sales professionals within the northeast region, growing the business 117% within the first year.

Rich then went on to work for Kamori, selling both their continuous and B2 inkjet solutions. Although Rich was responsible for being an individual contributor for both these product categories, he was also responsible for knowledge “transfer’ and supporting the traditional offset team.

Starting with Fujifilm, in the early days of COVID, Rich has been leading the charge for both B2 and CF inkjet as the Inkjet Sales Manager for the Northeast region. Being at Fujifilm brings everything that Rich is passionate about in Graphic Communications – Offset, Inkjet, Operational Excellence, Customer Satisfaction & Print Manufacturing at its best!